You thought Cortana could do loads on your system? Well now she will be able to do more, a whole lot more. According to reports, Cortana will soon be able to shut down and restart your Windows 10 PC as well.

Microsoft has rolled out a new beta build of Windows 10 to members of the Insider program. The latest build brings a lot of improvements, it will enable Cortana to shut down or restart a Windows 10 PC when commanded by the user.

The Windows 10 build 14986 is what is going to bring these changes and will also feature other improvements to Cortana that further enhance the personal assistant’s functionality.

Apart from shutting down and restarting your system, Cortana will also have Music Playback controls added to Cortana as well. Windows 10 users will be able to play music from services like TuneIn Radio and iHeartRatdio even when their PC is locked. Cortana will be able to lock a PC and change the system volume on command as well.

Cortana will also have a nice idle feature in which if your PC is idle for more than ten seconds, the “Hey Cortana” command can be used to launch a full-screen interface that’s optimized for viewing from afar.

Windows 10 users will get to enjoy these features when the new update is rolled out.

Recently on GatesNotes, Microsoft Founder/CEO Bill Gates wrote about his next problem solving and it's eradicating Toilet Odors. The top five billionaire on Forbe list explained how he intend to do this and the company he found in Geneva that will be collaborating on this project. Read and also watch the Smell Of Success Video below...I recently traveled to Switzerland to take a giant whiff of pit latrine odor. What I inhaled was a strong kick to the nostrils, a potent combination of sewage stink, barnyard sweat, and bitter ammonia topped off with vomit (or was it Parmesan cheese?). The stench was foul and made me wince.
Fortunately, I also got to smell something much fresher and more pleasing during my trip. I took the first sniffs of a future of odor-free toilets and better sanitation for all.
These olfactory revelations occurred during my tour of Firmenich, a family-owned fragrance and flavor company based in Geneva. The 120-year-old firm is known for crafting some of the world’s best-known fragrances and enhancing the flavors of beverages and foods. But it is also one of our foundation’s newest partners in the effort to improve sanitation in the world’s poorest countries.
I’ve written before about the world’s sanitation challenge. The numbers are staggering. One billion people have no access to toilets so they defecate out in the open. Three billion more have toilets, but their waste is dumped untreated, seeping into water and food supplies. About 800,000 children under age 5 die each year from diarrhea, pneumonia, and other common infections caused by unsafe water and sanitation. Beyond the tremendous human suffering, it’s a problem that slows economic development. In India alone, poor sanitation costs nearly $55 billion each year—more than 6 percent of GDP.
So how could a perfume company help?
Because smell matters.

Microsoft has launched it's new Surface family,the Surface Studio,Surface Book and Surface Pro 4. Each and every one of them has its own unique feature,all come with superb built,brilliant designs and higher performance but they come in high cost and is definitely not for everyone.Starting with the surface studio,

the Surface Studio is a 28-inch all-in-one PC with a new iteration on Microsoft's PixelSense display and an all-new way to control the device in the Surface Dial.Display:The Surface Studio comes with a 12.55mm thick screen with the thinnest ever LED, according to Microsoft, at just 1.3mm and packs 13.5 million pixels – around 63% more than a 4K TV set.Memory:
Expect nothing more than a stunning Intel Core i7 processor, backed with 32GB RAM, a 2TB hybrid hard drive and a Nvidia GTX 980M graphics processing unit.With all these the Microsoft Surface Studio will cost you a whopping $2,999

And the second on the list,the Surface Book with performance base,

as the it has been themed "Performance Base" this Pc has been built to meet all the necessary qualities of a performer, this Pc doesn't care if you are an intense graphic gamer or into music or video production, it comes with an Intel® Core™ i7 processor and NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 965M 2GB GPU, gives you the increased speed and graphics performance you need for engineering, design, and everything in between.

The last on the list,the Surface Pro 4,

all you need from a PC and a Tablet is what you get from this Surface pro 4,According to Microsoft

Surface Pro 4 is light enough to take anywhere and powerful enough to use as a full desktop workstation. In fact, it’s 50% faster than a MacBook Air 13”.1

With a 16GB RAM,Surface Pro 4 is engineered to give you the power and performance you need in a laptop, with Intel® Core™ processors and up to 1TB of lightning fast SSD for all your programs, photos, and music.With striking true-to-life color, the 12.3” high-resolution PixelSense™ Display was designed to be viewed, touched, and written on. And text reads like the printed page with a high-contrast, easy-on-the-eyes display.

Surprisingly Microsoft just announced the latest Nokia 216 feature phone via their blog and we think it's quite appealing to the eyes. Here's all we know about it.Apparently few weeks back we learnt Nokia and Microsoft sign off a deal to sell their feature business to FIH Mobilea subsidiary of Foxxconn at around $350M but now that they just unleashed a new phone off the deal it simply means the deal hasn't officially kicked off.Let's take a look at the spec for this new Nokia 216, it includes 0.3MP camera (Front and Rear with LED flash), 2.4inch QVGA display, Torchlight, MP3 and Video Player, Bluetooth (Bluetooth Audio Headset Supported), running Nokia Series 30 OS and a preinstalled Opera Mini browser, a headphone jack (Stereo Radio), Store upto 2000 contact, Battery Life 24days.It also comes in 3 colors.

While rumor has it that by end of this year(2016), Microsoft and Nokia will stop producing the Lumia series. One can categorically agree that the Windows smartphone has gotten quite a low turn up from the smartphone community as we see Android and iOS topping the most used OS year-on-year.In this moden age where also all smartphones no longer last due to the amount of time spent on Power consuming Apps, this Feature phone can be a great stylish back up phone for calls, listening to music, radio and also browsing lite for informations. I personally think it's a good phone and won't mind having one as my support phone.It's rolling out first in India and later globally.Source: Nokia 216 from Microsoft

For those who use Xiaomi devices or have plans to purchase one, know that your device will be coming with man pre-installed Microsoft apps including Office and Skype on its phones and tablets.

Microsoft announced in a blog post that Xiaomi will begin preinstalling Office and other software and services on devices including the Mi 5, Mi Max, Mi 4s, Redmi Note 3, and Redmi 3 starting September 2016.

The companies have refused to disclose the financial details of the agreement.

The companies have already partnered to launch Windows 10 on Mi Pad and fuel Mi Cloud service using Microsoft Azure.

“We are excited to be working closely with Microsoft on a broad technology collaboration partnership,” said Xiang Wang, senior vice president at Xiaomi.

“As demonstrated by this agreement with Microsoft, Xiaomi is looking to build sustainable, long-term partnerships with global technology leaders, with the ultimate goal of bringing the best user experience to our Mi fans.”

Microsoft office is definitely a compulsory app that almost anyone who owns a computer has need for and beyond the pretty mundane stuff that we do on it, there's some other pretty impressive stuff that can be done with Microsoft Office.Most of us don't have any idea how to do some of this stuff and we don't know anything beyond the basic stuff.

People actually pay to learn how to use office, so i try not to feel too bad about my lack of super genius mode on the app.

But my ignorance about certain aspects of the app maybe not be a problem anymore with the introduction of the “Tell Me” feature. It's a tool can be accessed by simply tapping on the light bulb icon that is visible in the app. Once the text box is available, all you need to do is start typing what you want to find and you should get the necessary help instantly.

And if you are having trouble locating said light bulb icon, simply tap the “A” and pencil icon on the top of the interface, then select the light bulb. The process is a tad simpler for tablet users as they have more space to fiddle around with. All they need to do is to find the light bulb icon on the top-right corner.

Apart from that, the only new updates are that Word also gains the ability to merge and split cells while Excel gets improved auto-complete, in addition to the ability to expand or collapse grouped rows and columns. PowerPoint remains the same with no additional improvements or features, save Tell Me.

So there you have it, you have any problem with Microsoft office, you are now covered by the "Tell Me" Feature.

It won't be particularly odd to say that Sony's Playstation is probably winning the console wars at the moment.

Microsoft has a pretty loud voice, but it's probably not quite on par with Nintendo and Playstation. Nintendo seeing that they probably couldn't catch up with Playstation's AAA games, decided to take another route, paying more attention to making family oriented games and beloved titles.

Microsoft is trying but is still a little behind, they aren't giving up though as multiple reports indicate that Microsoft is about to announce a new, slimmer Xbox One around E3 in June, and a more powerful Xbox One next year.

In April 2016, FCC filings showed that Microsoft was working on two new consoles. Kotaku just confirmed this with more details on the company’s plans.

First according to kotaku, Microsoft is going to release a slimmer Xbox One in the coming months. The console should be just as powerful as the Xbox One, but as much as 40 percent smaller according to The Verge. While this console should be cheaper, it should also come with a beefy 2TB hard drive.

After that Microsoft could according to reports be preparing to announce a much more powerful Xbox One for next year.

This could very well be in response to a rumored PlayStation 4 ‘Neo’ that Sony is planning to announce this Fall. The Neo should be more powerful in order to work with the PlayStation VR headset.

The new Xbox one will be nicknamed ‘Scorpio’ and the plan is for all games to be compatible with both the old and new consoles the only perk being that the games look better on the newer consoles.

Kotaku reports that the new Xbox One specs are not certain at the moment. Polygon however, has learned that Microsoft is targeting 6 teraflops of GPU power, more than the PlayStation 4 ‘Neo’. Microsoft could be working with Oculus to make its console compatible with the Oculus VR headset.

Microsoft has announced that it will be joining forces with Facebook to build "MAREA", an internet cable that will be put under the Atlantic Ocean.This they say is to help meet the growing demand for Microsoft's various online services.

Microsoft stated In a blog post,

"We're seeing an ever-increasing customer demand for high speed, reliable connections for Microsoft cloud services, including Bing, Office 365, Skype, Xbox Live, and Microsoft Azure. As the world continues to move towards a future based on cloud computing, Microsoft is committed to building out the unprecedented level of global infrastructure required to support ever faster and even more resilient connections to our cloud services. This robust, global infrastructure will enable customers to more quickly and reliably store, manage, transmit and access their data in the Microsoft Cloud."

The cable is said to be over 4,100 miles long (That's really long) and will stretch from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Bilbao, Spain. It will also have eight fiber pairs that can handle as much as 160Tbps of data.

The duo od Microsoft and facebook will partner with Telxius, Telefónica's telecommunications infrastructure company, on the contruction of "MAREA" . Telxius will be in charge of the cable once it is complete.

Construction kicks off in August 2016 and is scheduled to be finished in October 2017.

Microsoft has announced a deal in which it will see its feature phone business for $350 million FIH Mobile

FIH mobile is a subsidiary of Chinese hardware manufacturer Foxconn, which manufactures iPhones for Apple, and a newly formed company called HMD Global.

Microsoft’s entry-level mobile device assets and the Nokia brand name, as well as its manufacturing facility in Hanoi, Vietnam will all be added to the deal.

It is expected that all things will be concluded by the second half of the year.

Upon completion HMD will have the right to sell Nokia-branded feature phones as well as Android-based smartphones and tablets.

There are plans by the firm to invest more than $500 million over the next three years to market its mobile products worldwide.

Nokia already has an enviable brand equity which it garnered over eons making high-quality feature phones as well as Windows Phone-based smartphones. The plan is to capitalize on this and use this as a springboard into the market.

Nokia has dabbled in the Android game before. In 2014, it launched the beautiful $250 N1 tablet but didn’t make it widely available around the world.

The sale will not affect Microsoft’s Windows-based mobile operations. The company says it will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and keep its Lumia brand of phones alive, while continuing to partner with hardware makers like Acer, Alcatel, HP and VAIO.

Microsoft reportedly have plans for a phone next year, but nothing solid has been confirmed yet. So fingers crossed.

Less than three months to the end of the year, there's been quite a number of new devices coming out and Microsoft doesn't seem to be taking a chill pills as we see the leaked images of their new set of Lumia 950 & 950 XL.

This amazing new smartphones are coming with a whooping 20MPPureView camera with triple-LED flash see image below.

That's not all, if you take a better look at the image below, you'll notice a low-infrared diode beside the front camera, Seen ? Ok what this does is that, you can actually unlock your device by just looking at it(you have to config it tho) and yes it's a dual sim.

What we do not know for now is the battery life, what does it weight, would it be cheap, Memory space and so on. This Lumia's are set for un-boxing at Microsoft October 6 Event (Tuesday precisely)Fingers crossed!!!
Scr: Windows Central

So you have finally upgraded to Windows 10, how does the future feel like ? Great i believe anyways there's something i figured out after i upgraded my Windows 8.1 to 10.I discovered during the upgrade, Windows did alot and left alot without cleaning up its mess. First of all i had 43GB before the upgrade, after the upgrade i had 39.8GB which i wasn't pleased with so i clicked on DISK CLEAN.How To Do Disk Clean Task ? Goto This PC, Right Click On Your Main Disk! Usually Disk (C:)

It took awhile but the result was too small so i clicked on CLEAN UP SYSTEM FILES, this took longer than expected.. See the result below!

From above screenshot, you'll notice Windows created a previous windows installation folder(which its folder is Windows.old) i guess just incase the upgrade fails it'll automagically revert to it's earlier version which i think is good but bad again coz for those who don't use System utilities like this would just wonder what the heck is Windows.old and why has their storage reduced!Also Temporary Windows Installations Files was about 3.67GB, in total i'll be freeing up 22.6GB! isn't that awesome ?So if you've upgraded don't hesitate to do a disk clean up.WARNING: If you delete the previous windows files, if anything goes wrong with your current windows you won't be able to roll back to the previous installation.

Don't want to wait for Windows to push you a notification before downloading/upgrading to the New Windows 10 ? Then follow the direction below to skip the wait.For about 3 weeks now, i've been seeing the icon "Get Windows 10" in my taskbar but i refused to take action because i am sometimes not the type of person that tries new softwares as soon as they arrive because you learn from the past. Remember when Apple iOS 8 came out ? everybody jumped on it few days later security bug was detected and people had to update again to 8.0.2 and so on till we got stuck to 8.4 which is the most recent update released June 30 - 2015. Anyways that's another story i'm not a storyteller, today i want to show you how i upgraded my Windows 8.1 to 10 within an hour of downloading from Microsoft directly.Like i said earlier, I saw the notification to download the new windows 10 but unknowing to me it's just a step one of perhaps 10 steps before you finally get the upgrade.After clicking on the Get Windows 10, Window popped up telling me to reserve my space, so i did and nothing happend, Then i clicked on it again i was told to "Chill" and that my Windows 10 is on the way(could take days or weeks).I'm impatient so i found on CNET how to skip the waiting process. Here are the steps below.STEP 1: Goto Microsoft Official Website by clicking hereSTEP 2: Choose which bit your system runs with i.e 64bit or 32bit.STEP 3: Click DownloadSTEP 4: Open the installer you just downloaded which is named MediaCreationToolx64 or MediaCreationToolx32 (depending on the bit you're installing)STEP 5: Select the first option which instructs you to Upgrade This PC and the image below should be what you're seeing...

STEP 6: Go get yourself some coffee or better still if your PC is rugged you can continue doing your work while windows does its thing in the background.Note: Try not to do much because Windows will always reboot at some point and if you're in the middle of something, Sorry might be the case.Download Size for Windows 10 is 2699MB (2.7GB approx)STEP 7: Welcome On Board! The Windows 10 Elites!

Obviously this year has been a great year in Tech world and we the consumers can testify to that.Anyways this is a teaser from Nokia Conversation blog and it shows that Microsoft and Nokia will be unveiling a new Lumia Smartphone.In a nutshell the company posted

Microsoft is delivering the power of everyday mobile technology to everyone.Come back on November 11, to find out more!#MoreLumia

Rumor has it that this phone is going to be a lower-end smartphone due to some leaked images online but i have a good feeling that this Lumia set to be released in less than 5days might not disappoint because lately i have been listening to radio and i hear this huge voice of someone talking about a new Lumia so i'm guessing this is it but to be honest the Radio advert WOW' me and i'm expectant hope you are ?

Till 11-11-2014 we'll see and by the way the image above is the snippet of the new lumia.

It's amazing how Microsoft keeps watering our thirst on this Windows 8 Family, here comes Windows 10. One lovely feature that i so much adore is that when you run an app( you installed from Windows App Store) you can have it in the desktop instead of hovering your mouse to the top left corner of your system.

Apps from the Windows
Store now open in the same format that desktop apps do and can be
resized and moved around, and have title bars at the top allowing for
maximize, minimize, and close with a click but the only disadvantage of this is that Windows users with small screen won't enjoy this amazing feature.

And also the Ultimate Start Up Menu is back and better, I have tried installing third party ones on my 8.1 but error, hanging and stuff, i had to uninstall it and now nothing like Factory Installed Start Up Menu.Read On for the rest captivating features.... Pssss It'll be available early 2015!

"It’s a humbling and amazing thing to work on Windows, which is used
by over 1.5 billion people in every country of the world. From kids
playing with computers for the first time, to writers and journalists,
to engineers, to gamers, to CEOs, at some point Windows has empowered
all of us.

In the Windows team, we’re proud of this – but we also know that the
world today is very different from the one in which Windows grew up.
Today, devices outnumber people. Connectivity is like oxygen. The
tension between the desire for agility versus stability poses a huge
challenge for IT Pros. Experiences – no matter what device you’re on –
just need to work. The only thing that hasn’t really changed is the
situation for developers – still too much to do, and not enough time.

One way to look at it is that Windows is at a threshold :-).
It’s time for a new Windows. This new Windows must be built from the
ground-up for a mobile-first, cloud-first world. This new Windows must
help our customers be productive in both their digital work and their
digital life. This new Windows must empower people and organizations to
do great things.That new Windows is Windows 10.

Windows 10 represents the first step of a whole new generation of
Windows. Windows 10 unlocks new experiences for customers to work, play
and connect. Windows 10 embodies what our customers (both consumers and
enterprises) demand and what we will deliver.

Windows 10 will run across an incredibly broad set of devices – from
the Internet of Things, to servers in enterprise datacenters worldwide.
Some of these devices have 4 inch screens – some have 80 inch screens –
and some don’t have screens at all. Some of these devices you hold in
your hand, others are ten feet away. Some of these devices you primarily
use touch/pen, others mouse/keyboard, others controller/gesture – and
some devices can switch between input types.

We’re not talking about one UI to rule them all – we’re talking about
one product family, with a tailored experience for each device.And across this breadth of devices, we are delivering one application
platform for our developers. Whether you’re building a game or a line
of business application, there will be one way to write a universal app
that targets the entire family. There will be one store, one way for
applications to be discovered, purchased and updated across all of these
devices.

Windows 10 will deliver the right experience on the right device at
the right time. It will be our most comprehensive platform ever.Now, during the design of a new Windows, we spend time with many
diverse customers. One of the most important of these customers is the
enterprise. In the past year I’ve talked to dozens of enterprise
customers and listened to how they are using and deploying Windows, and
what they need from us.These customers are betting their businesses on Windows – in the
first half of this year, shipments of enterprise PCs grew 14%. In that
same time period, shipments of Windows enterprise tablets grew 33%.

Tomorrow, we are excited to announce the Windows Insider Program,
where PC experts and IT Pros can get access to a technical preview of
Windows 10 for desktops and laptops. Soon after, we’ll also be releasing
technical previews of Windows Server and our management tools.

With the Insider program, we’re inviting our most enthusiastic
Windows customers to shape Windows 10 with us. We know they’re a vocal
bunch – and we’re looking forward to hearing from them.The Windows Insider Program is intended for PC experts and IT pros
who are comfortable using pre-release software with variable quality.
Insiders will receive a steady stream of early builds from us with the
latest features we’re experimenting with.

This week’s announcements are just the first chapter of our
conversation with customers about Windows 10 – with a focus on
enterprise features (because enterprises have a need to evaluate
software early on) and the desktop/laptop experiences. Early in 2015
we’ll introduce the consumer chapter and talk much more about other
device types and more consumer features. We’ll then continue the
conversation with the developer chapter at our Build conference, and
later in the year we’ll release Windows 10 and look forward to some
amazing new devices.

Today was an important beginning for our customers and partners as we
embark on the Windows 10 journey together. I encourage everyone reading
this to sign up for the Windows Insider Program,
download the technical preview, and let us know what you think. Check
here tomorrow for specific details – but in the meantime, here’s a peek
at some of the new features you can test drive once you become an
Insider:

Start menu: The familiar Start menu is back, but it brings with it a new customizable space for your favorite apps and Live Tiles.

Everything runs in a window: Apps from the Windows
Store now open in the same format that desktop apps do and can be
resized and moved around, and have title bars at the top allowing for
maximize, minimize, and close with a click.

Snap enhancements: You can now have four apps
snapped on the same screen with a new quadrant layout. Windows will also
show other apps and programs running for additional snapping and even
make smart suggestions on filling available screen space with other open
apps.

New task view button: There’s a new task-view button
on the taskbar for quick switching between open files and quick access
to any desktops you create.

Multiple desktops: Create desktops for different
purposes and projects and switch between these desktops easily and pick
up where you left off on each desktop.

Find files faster: File
Explorer now displays your recent files and frequently visited folders
making for finding files you’ve worked on is easier. "Check out a video sneekpeek below... Courtesy ReCodeYour browser does not support iframes.